Chapter 189: Rogue Cultivators Raid the Military Camp

After hearing Qin Haoxuan’s words, he fell into contemplation. He didn’t know the strength of the cultivators in the enemy camp. If they had invited a rogue cultivator at the Spirit Tree Realm, wouldn’t he be easily crushed if he stepped forward to help? But Su Wu had already come to him for aid; how should he respond?

As Qin Haoxuan was agonizing over how to reply, Xing, who was beside him, let out a cold rebuke. “When the High Immortals choose to act is their own business. A High Immortal naturally has his own judgment. You mortals should just wait patiently!”

Being rebuked by Xing, Su Wu repeatedly agreed, but his face was grim. On the surface, he dared not say a word, but in his heart, he was surely worried about whether these two young High Immortals could stand up to the enemy’s powerful helpers. Their refusal to act now, was it cowardice and evasion? Or was it that they had no ability at all, and the guardian sect had just randomly sent two disciples to placate the imperial court? All sorts of thoughts appeared in Su Wu’s mind, but he only dared to speculate, not to speak them aloud. He quickly withdrew from the tent.

After Su Wu had left, Xing said to Qin Haoxuan, “The Heavenly Dao is merciless, and one must also be merciless in cultivation. Unless you know for certain that the cultivators in the enemy camp are weaker than you, you must never step forward for them. Otherwise… you won’t even know how you died.”

After hearing his words, Qin Haoxuan felt that Xing was being too selfish. If not for hiding in this military camp and diluting the aura of the tracking art, he might have already used up all his spirit stones and been captured by Master Chi Lian. In a way, he had been able to hide thanks to Su Wu’s kindness.

Seeing the hesitation on Qin Haoxuan’s face, Xing said, “This is your problem. With such a soft heart, how can you gain a foothold in the cultivation world? You must learn to be ruthless!”

Qin Haoxuan said, “You say I’m soft-hearted? What about you?”

Blocked by his words, Xing was speechless. He, a great demon who had roamed freely in the Netherworld, was indeed very soft-hearted when it came to this Qin Haoxuan… Otherwise, when that old fellow Chi Lian had attacked, he also had a Thousand-Mile Talisman… he could have just abandoned him and run. No! I only did it because I haven’t gotten the Dao Heart Seed Demon Art yet! I don’t have any soft spot for this kid! Xing thought, having suddenly found a good excuse for himself, and he grew more and more pleased.

Xing sighed to himself. He couldn’t say whether Qin Haoxuan was right or wrong, but in his opinion, helping mortals was always a mistake.

Qin Haoxuan smiled faintly, his expression calm and composed. “Although I am a cultivator, I was once a mortal. Humans have a saying, ‘A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.’ We may not speak of a gushing spring, but we should at least act with a clear conscience. Help me think. Is there any way to probe the cultivation of the cultivators in the enemy camp?”

Seeing that he could not persuade him, Xing gave up and thought for a moment. “To probe them, we can use local materials and gather the souls from the battlefield to create a special reconnaissance-type ghost soldier.”

He paused, and as if he had just thought of something, his face lit up. “That’s right! We can also gather a large number of souls from the battlefield and refine a powerful Yin God. If that Master Chi Lian catches up to us, we can take the opportunity to ambush him with it!”

Qin Haoxuan nodded. Although this creature was a slacker with no sense of propriety, he always had a lot of strange and wonderful ideas. Since he had no other way to probe the enemy’s strength, he could only listen to his suggestion.

“What do we need to prepare?”

Xing said, “We just need to refine a talisman to collect the souls. This is relatively simple. I’ll teach you how to do it.”

Qin Haoxuan still had a lot of talisman-crafting materials on him. Under Xing’s guidance, he quickly made a soul-collecting talisman. Now, all they had to do was wait for the dead of night to gather the souls from the battlefield.

Outside the tent, the great banner flapped in the wind. Inside… Qin Haoxuan touched the Soul-Guiding Talisman in his hand, carefully feeling the difference between it and the Thousand-Mile Talisman. The body of the Soul-Guiding Talisman was just ordinary green jade, with only a few inscriptions on it, unlike the high-level Thousand-Mile Talisman, which was densely covered with all sorts of inscriptions. The Soul-Guiding Talisman exuded a sinister aura that made one feel very uncomfortable.

After making the talisman, he and Xing sat cross-legged and meditated for a while. During this time, Qin Haoxuan used the Thousand-Mile Mirror several times to observe Master Chi Lian’s current situation and found that he was still flying around like a headless fly, searching for him, unable to find his trail.

After some time had passed, besides the patrolling soldiers, the rest of the army had gone to sleep. Just as Qin Haoxuan and Xing were preparing to leave the tent and go to the nearby battlefield to collect souls, they suddenly heard the sound of warning gongs and drums.

“Raid! Someone is raiding the camp!”

It turned out that a figure had barged into the tent area. This figure had walked in swaggeringly, completely disregarding the soldiers on guard. Because the enemy had the help of a “High Immortal,” Su Wu had long been prepared and had set up heavy security around his tent.

After the person broke in, the patrolling soldiers sounded the alarm, and the well-trained soldiers reacted instantly. Su Wu had been very careful, cautiously guarding against a possible sneak attack from the enemy. So, not only had he been sleeping with his weapons, but he had also required all his soldiers to keep their armor on and their saddles on their horses. If anything happened, they could react in time.

General Su’s captain of the guard gave a signal, and the soldiers who were already on standby immediately fired their arrows. This uninvited guest had brazenly broken through the outer perimeter and had unabashedly barged into the tent area; he was clearly no simple character. The captain of the guard’s expression was grave, and a terrifying thought rose in his mind: This raider is so powerful. Could he be the High Immortal the enemy has invited?

The intruder sneered, looking at the soldiers with utter contempt. He reached into his robes, took out a spiritual talisman, and activated it. A faint yellow light barrier appeared on his body, and with its protection, the expression on his face became even more brazen.

Seeing this, the captain of the guard’s face turned pale, and his heart filled with despair. This raider was indeed a High Immortal.

“Archers, fire! Crossbowmen, ready your crossbows! Spearmen, prepare to attack! Shieldmen, defend!” A series of commands came from his mouth, and the soldiers carried them out with great seriousness. The entire camp was instantly filled with the glint of blades and the rain of arrows.

The arrows flew towards the intruder like a swarm of locusts, but when they struck him, they made a series of clanging sounds, as if hitting a steel plate. The sharp arrowheads were all bent, but the intruder was unharmed. It should be known that a volley of these powerful arrows could turn even an iron shield into a sieve.

“Crossbowmen, fire! Spearmen, prepare!” the captain ordered again. A volley of crossbow bolts, each as thick as a baby’s arm, whistled through the air. The intruder just sneered, looking at them as if they were children’s toys. “You think you can harm this seat with such tricks?” he said. He reached out and caught one of the bolts, snapping it in two with ease. The rest of the bolts struck him as gently as raindrops and then fell to the ground. They hadn’t even shaken the faint yellow light barrier around him.

Seeing that even the crossbows could not harm him, the captain knew that these High Immortals were truly not something mortals could defeat. He hurriedly ordered, “Spearmen, attack! Protect the general to the death!” After giving the order, he himself quietly slipped into Su Wu’s tent, preparing to call the general to escape with him.

A hundred soldiers armed with long spears formed a human wall. This was a battle-hardened troop that Su Wu had painstakingly trained. They were not ordinary soldiers, but desperadoes, each with hundreds of scars on their bodies. Despite knowing the intruder was a High Immortal, an invincible being in the legends of mortals, their bloodlust was only further aroused. Someone shouted, “Brothers, we’ve killed plenty of men! Today, let’s see what it’s like to kill an immortal!”

The spearmen let out a resounding cheer, their previously low morale soaring. A hundred gleaming spear tips, like a field of cold stars, were in their hands. Countless long spears stabbed at the intruder, but they only made the faint yellow light barrier around him tremble slightly.

“Are you done with your performance?” the intruder asked contemptuously. He then unleashed a Heaven-Cleaving Slash. His arm transformed into a great saber. He was a cultivator at the Fourteenth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm. When he unleashed the art, its power was immense. These mortals had never seen anything like it.

SLASH!

The intruder swung his hand-blade, and the spears, which were all made of refined steel, were all cut in two. He then waved his sleeve, and a wave of spiritual energy sent the spearmen flying as if they were made of paper.

With the spearmen defeated, the shieldmen who formed the last line of defense threw down their weapons without a shred of courage and fled, wishing their parents had given them two more legs. The intruder shot a cold glance at the routing soldiers but did not pursue them, instead charging straight for Su Wu’s tent.

Su Wu and his captain were just about to escape when they saw the intruder suddenly enter. Their faces turned pale with fear. Is today truly the day I die? Su Wu thought. Just then, he remembered the two High Immortals in the adjacent tent. As if a drowning man grasping a life-saving straw, he shouted, “High Immortals, save me! High Immortals, save me!”

His captain looked at him with a resolute expression and shouted with great loyalty, “General, run quickly! I will hold him off!”